4th birthday party for 20 kids 3-4.30. What and how much food do I need please?

[BarbaraVineFan]

Dd's 4th birthday is coming up and I'm starting to think about the food, but have realised due to circumstances I can't do any food that needs heating or cooking. I'm thinking the following :
Cheese sandwiches
Ham sandwiches
Cherry tomatoes, cucumber, carrot and pepper sticks
Quavers
Pom bears
Small biscuits of some kind- maybe party rings?
And cake to go in the party bags.

What else do I need please? I took DD to a party recently where there were lots of sweets, and the kids didn't really eat any of the savoury stuff as a result - but have I gone too far the other way?

I think you're fine with what you described, I'd just add a fruit platter (strawberries, raspberries, apple slices). We do that in addition to everything you listed above for DDs birthday and it seems to be the standard for parties where we live.

Oh and juices.

No that all sounds good.

I did DS's 4th birthday last month. I guessed one full square sandwich per child and ended up with about 50% left over at the end of the party! I did ham, cheese spread and a vegan option for the vegan kid.

Some grape halves or strawberries might also go down well? We did a medium sized bowl of grape halves and they vanished!

For crisps I did 2 of those 4 packs of toddler crisps as they're low salt and we had lots of younger siblings attending. These also vanished by the end of the party (but not too quickly, everyone got some).

I also bought those 12 packs of £1 fairy cakes from Tesco and hid them in the kitchen area until everyone had been given a chance to eat their "proper" food, then brought them out. They also vanished steadily.

Then we did the proper birthday cake at the end and after the candles were over, we just wrapped thin slices in napkins and put in the party bag.

For drinks we bought those Tesco own brand "fruit shoot" knock-offs, some multipacks of flavoured water, and some plain water, all in child sized bottles, so there were a choice of drinks. I calculated 2 per child and we had some left over but I'd rather they didn't go thirsty!

There was wine in the kitchen for parents but not many had it.

Good shout with the fruit plate and juices, thank you!

The packs of cupcakes are a good idea. I wish I could offer parents tea or coffee, but there is nowhere to prepare it unfortunately - so maybe I'll get some wine or prosecco in!

Do you think I need to provide separate food for the parents? If so, what?

Sounds great. Don’t forget the bin bags to put it all in afterwards 😂 (not a comment on your food- just IME 4yos manage to leave more leftovers than there was food to start with!)

I would do small sausage rolls, mini buns, mini gingerbread men and mini party rings. I wouldn’t bother with carrots sticks etc as you’ll be left with them but strawberries and grape halves are very popular. Don’t make too many sandwiches.

We did mini-cupcakes for parents and had coffee and tea bags with hot water in thermos-type bottles. Plus bottled waters for both adults and children.

Cake for the parents and encourage them to eat the surplus sandwiches

I would offer parents cake but wouldn't worry about savory. I wouldn't do alcohol, certainly never seen it at any of the kids party's I've been to round here.

Sausage rolls is another one that can be served cold that kids love

Sounds good. I would lose the tomatoes (for that age you would want them cut in half for a party, and that would be a messy job (I hate cutting tomatoes 😂).

And def add cut grapes and strawberries. Maybe cocktail sausages.

I wouldn’t expect to feed the parents - they will probably drape at the leftovers from the table! But some cans of soft drinks or something might be nice.

We tend to do them all a lunchbox, you can either ask parents for a preference of cheese/jam/ham in advance, do a mix in each box/alternate boxes so they can swap, or just do sandwiches in platters. Each box gets (for example, amend as you see fit!) A bag of crisps, a squeeze yoghurt, satsuma, and something chocolate/biscuits, mini party rings for example. Far less waste, less carnage and the slow eaters don't miss out!

Do you have water as well as juice? DD went to so many parties where there was no water on offer, just juice in cartons, and she only drank water so I ended up taking our own everywhere.

When mine were young I would keep it simple a little sandwiches cheese ham/jam, some little sausages go down well along with cubed cheese, crisps - the bears or quavers normally, salad bits.

Don’t set it on the table they are sitting at, get adults to go round and serve, lot less leftovers that way, children tend to over fill plates with the good stuff 😂, then when everyone served set the plates on the table for seconds.

afters I would do party rings mini Swiss rolls chocolate finger (on offer in Tesco this week !) little fairy cakes that’s enough at that age.

then after tea, I use to produce a plain hat or a picture and a little pack of colouring crayons per child and have a colouring time, just 10 minutes or so before they start running around again.

Sounds spot on. Unless you're doing lunch boxes, IME parents just graze after the kids have eaten, you don't need to do anything extra for them.

I have generally found a good rule of thumb is to halve the amount of sandwiches you originally think is a sensible amount. They never eat them. Cocktail sausages get devoured. Carrot and cucumber sticks go down well as well as berries. Peppers never seem quite as popular as carrots. And then all the biscuits go immediately. I wouldn’t bother with tomatoes as at least one kid will get tomato stain down their party dress and cry. I’d second the tip above about making sure you have water as well as squash. Lots of kids seem to just prefer water.

Also… don’t get fruit kebabs on cocktail sticks if you’ve got any kids with questionable behaviour coming. A friend of mine made that error- she wasn’t expecting a sword fight with the pointy sticks.

Chocolate fingers, mini Swiss rolls and cocktail sausages excellent ideas! Thanks so much for all the help, everyone 😊 I'll definitely be taking some of these on board!

And water! I'll get little bottles like someone suggested, as well as fruit shoots or similar